This invention relates in general to finishers for use with reproduction apparatus, and more particularly to a modular finisher which includes a stapling device and may optionally include any combination of auxiliary devices including a supplemental sheet insert tray, a Z-folding device, or a saddle stitcher.
Today's ever increasing document information flow, in the form of paper documents, necessitates the ability to reproduce multi-page documents in a timely and efficient manner. As a result, reproduction apparatus, such as electrostatographic copier/duplicators, electronic printers, or the like, have been significantly improved as to their sophistication of operation, ease of use, and speed. In order to take full advantage of high speed reproduction apparatus, handling of the original information to be reproduced and of the completed reproductions into completely finished sets so as to match overall reproduction output productivity with reproduction apparatus speed has assumed increased importance.
Recent significant advances in the state of the art of reproduction apparatus deal with the handling of original information for information input to such apparatus. One such novel original information handling device, referred to as a recirculating document feeder, is shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,674, issued Oct. 2, 1979, in the name of Russel. With the recirculating document feeder of the shown type, document sheets from a collated document sheet stack are circulated seriatim from the stack of document sheets to an exposure station of a reproduction apparatus for copying and then returned to such stack, in order, a number of times equal to the desired number of reproductions to be made of such stack. As a result, the collected reproductions are in precollated sets which eliminates the need for further complex and expensive collation equipment. Of course, reproduction apparatus which handle original information electronically may also produce the desirable precollated reproduction sets.
The production of precollated reproduction sets has an additional advantage in that the sets are immediately available for further handling to provide desired completely finished reproduction sheet sets. This of course improves the overall productivity of the reproduction system. A typical example of such further reproduction sheet set handling is stapling of the sheets in a set together to form the completely finished reproduction set. Finisher apparatus to carry out reproduction set stapling is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,672, issued Jan. 16, 1979, in the name of Burlew et al.
Although finishers of the above type have been very successful, they are limited in that they typically can effect only one type of finishing. Completed reproduction sets may require additional or other finishing operations, such as for example folding oversized sheets, saddle sitching the reproduction set to form a booklet, or insertion of supplemental sheets (e.g., covers). Separate auxiliary devices to accomplished these various ends are available in the industry today, although for the most part these devices are of the off-line type. That is to say, such auxiliary devices are not integrally associated with the reproduction apparatus (and basic finisher apparatus) and require either manual or mechanical intervention to bring reproduction sets to such devices in a form in which such auxiliary devices can perform the desired operation thereon. This adds expense to the overall reproduction process, and complexity to the total reproduction apparatus system, without adding to the efficiency or increasing the productivity of operation thereof.